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3 Successful People Who Prove that Excuses Are Irrelevant

Successful people can be inspiring as well as intimidating. You have witnessed this, haven’t you? That one moment of failure that made you think you are not worthy of becoming successful… I know. It’s harsh.

It is even brutal, I might say. If you are not careful, such moments can discourage you from doing what you love for the rest of your life.

But, you see, it’s easy to come up with excuses, and simply crawl back to bed when things don’t go as planned.

You know, excuses such as, “I can’t do it,” or “It’s too hard for me.” I know it because sometimes I am guilty of doing it.

When you didn’t win that competition you worked so hard for or when you didn’t get the grade you studied so much for, it is alright to feel disappointed.

But it is not alright to give up on your goal.

They say the key to success is perseveration, and these three successful personalities couldn’t agree more.

Successful people #1: Anna Wintour

Anna holds the bible of the American fashion. If you haven’t heard of her, you must have read her magazine, Vogue.

It’s insane how many people buy her product every day all over the world. But how did she get all this success?

It may seem unrealistic, but the famous Anna Wintour was fired before she became a legend. She used to work as a junior fashion editor at Harper’s Bazaar in 1975. She had only worked there for nine months before the editor fired her because her shots “were too edgy.”

The experience may have let her down and hurt her self-esteem. But look at where she is now!

Successful people #2: Steve Jobs

Let’s not pretend that you haven’t heard of him. In fact, you are probably holding his product in your pocket right now. But Jobs was not always the one with the upper hand.

As soon as Apple started to grow, Steve hired a CEO to run the enterprise with him. However, after a few years, their ideas and visions about Apple went on two different paths. The board of directors sided with the other CEO, and so Jobs had to leave his company.

Just imagine that, having your own successful business and being kicked out of it. Steve Jobs publicly confessed that the following summer was the hardest time of his life. He had to rediscover himself, his passions, and his goals. And most importantly, he had to answer a difficult question – should he give up or not?

Luckily for us, he didn’t.

Successful people #3: Pete Cashmore

If you are into technology, you probably visit Mashable from time to time, which is Pete Cashmore’s famous website. The site is almost as large as the Huffington Post, with over 23 million people reading it monthly. When Pete created it, he was only 19 years old. Amazing, right?

And of course, the big question arises again – how did he do it?

Not only was he sick at that time, but he also had to give up school because of it. His education had been sabotaged, we might say. However, Pete didn’t find comfort in self-pity. He found a way to change the world from his very bedroom.

Being passionate about technology, he started a blog and wrote for the American audience. However, as he was from Scotland, the time frame was different. So he adapted his lifestyle to the Americans’. He stood up and wrote all night long, and he went to sleep only when the sun showed up in the sky.

If we reflect on all these three personalities, Anna Wintour, Steve Jobs, and Pete Cashmore, we can see three different factors that helped them get where they are today.

As much as we would like to hear it, advice such as “follow your dreams” or “believe in yourself” is not enough to help us succeed. What these people preach is to have a passion, work hard for it, and persevere in what you do.

But it’s not going to be easy.

Excuses will come up from time to time because, honestly, nobody feels like hustling, especially when we get discouraged by a failure.

Wintour, Jobs, and Cashmore all faced a downfall before they took out for the big success. What if they had given up? What if your success is just around the corner and you’re about to miss it out?

Did these successful people motivate you to accomplish your goals? In eFaqt you can find free summaries from other students, or you can create and practice your own summaries. Study faster, remember more, and connect with your study mates! Don’t have an eFaqt account yet? Create a new account in one minute!